County meets jail-inmate cap

By Staff Writer

Richmond County Jail officials met a federal judge's imposed population cap Monday by moving inmates to other county holding facilities, releasing newly arrested people without bond and sending home early some people serving sentences.

Also Monday, Sheriff Charles Webster provided a list of 178 people who left the overcrowded jail when they were transferred to other facilities or let go over the weekend.

Monday night, the jail population was 429, 71 inmates below the 500-inmate cap imposed by U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr., but above the 340-inmate capacity at the jail.

Over the weekend, 62 people charged with nonviolent offenses were released on their own recognizance. Another 29 people made bond; eight were released after paying a fine; 17 were released on probation; and four were transferred to jails outside Richmond County.

In addition, 58 people serving time for misdemeanor convictions were released.

"We fudged some of those (release dates), I'm not going to mislead you," Sheriff Webster said.

Judge Bowen ordered the first population cap to be met Monday, and further ordered the sheriff to bring the population down to 480 between Oct. 6 and Oct. 20; to 460 from Oct. 21 and Dec. 1; and then 340 after Dec. 1. On Dec. 1, a new 556-bed jail in south Augusta is expected to open.

Sheriff Webster said again Monday he expects to meet the judges' population caps. Violating the judge's orders could result in the judge fining Augusta.

As the jail staff has worked to process people, inmates have been working to clean up their cell block areas. Sheriff Webster cut privileges - visiting, television and telephone use - Friday to force inmates to participate in the cleanup.

Monday after an inspection, Sheriff Webster restored privileges to inmates in one cell block area and expected to restore privileges to other areas today after another inspection, he said.

The cleanup and maintenance of the jail were also part of Judge Bowen's orders last week. The judge told the sheriff that he could use the inmates to clean, and if necessary he could withhold privileges to force compliance.

Judge Bowen issued his demands on the jail conditions last week when he ordered Augusta officials back into court to explain themselves as to why the jail population had risen to 527 inmates. Last fall Judge Bowen demanded action to reduce the overcrowding when the population rose to 575. Judge Bowen maintains jurisdiction over the Richmond County Jail because of a civil-rights lawsuit inmates filed 20 years ago.

The following people were released over the weekend from jail on their own recognizance, without bond, from Richmond County Jail as officials try to maintain the jail population under the federal judge's cap of 500 inmates: